


Bitter Fruit

by alba17



Category: Mad Men
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Canon Het Relationship, Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-27
Updated: 2013-06-27
Packaged: 2017-12-16 07:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/859566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy and Ted go out for coffee after the CLIO Awards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitter Fruit

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: fruit pie. JOSSED by finale. Or maybe not! Basically AU now. Written after _The Quality of Mercy_ but before the finale.

The waitress put down a dish of apple pie à la mode and two cups of coffee. Peggy pulled her cup towards her, then reached for the cream and sugar. Ted looked out the window at the neon-lit night washing the plate glass window, then sighed as he reached for his own cup. Peggy stirred her coffee. It had been a dreary slog of a day, capped by the obstacle course of the CLIO Awards. 

“You should have won,” Ted said.

Peggy’s cheeks were stiff from smiling all night. She took a dainty sip of her too-hot coffee and said, “Mmmm,” noncommittally. “Maybe.”

“Don’t ‘maybe’ me, you know you should have. I told you so back when you came up with the idea.” Ted grimaced as his swallowed his black coffee. He forked up a bite of the pie and chewed it mechanically. He shook his head. “Brilliant. Really, Peggy.” He caught her eye. “That ad was brilliant,” he said more slowly.

Peggy darted her eyes away, hiding her pleasure and embarrassment. Nothing meant more to her than Ted’s admiration. That was nearly as good as winning the award would have been, although...not quite. She was successful, but earning the award would have given her career the official imprimatur of the industry and the respect of her mostly male colleagues. It would have really meant something.

“Don...” Ted began.

“Don’t start. We’ve been over it a million times.”

“I know. It’s just...” Ted trailed away with an exhale of breath. His look said everything. Don had taken it all away. 

Peggy stabbed at the pie with her own fork and shoved it in her mouth. She glanced at Ted again. It had been a long time since they’d spent time alone. Ted tried to avoid her in the office. The end of the day came a lot earlier than it used to. There were more baseball games and cook-outs at home. He must have felt guilty tonight, asking her out for coffee after the ceremony.

After another sip of her coffee, she pushed it away. There wasn’t enough cream and sugar to hide the hours it must have spent on the burner. She got up and started putting on her coat. 

“Going already?” Ted asked.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” 

He held her gaze for a moment. “Okay.” He got up also. “I think I’ll take off too. Early meeting tomorrow.”

As they came out onto the sidewalk, Ted said, “I’m sorry, Peggy. For everything.”

“Yeah, me too.”


End file.
